Polytheism

==Ancient and historical religions==
Well-known historical polytheistic pantheons include the [[Mesopotamian mythology|Sumerian]] gods, the [[Egyptian mythology|Egyptian]] gods, the pantheon attested in [[Classical Antiquity]] (in [[ancient Greek religion|ancient Greek]] and [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman]] religion), the [[Norse mythology|Norse]] [[Æsir]] and [[Vanir]], the [[Yoruba mythology|Yoruba]] [[Orisha]], and the [[Aztec mythology|Aztec]] gods.

In many civilizations, pantheons tended to grow over time. Deities first worshipped as the patrons of cities or other places came to be collected together as empires extended over larger territories. Conquests could lead to the subordination of a culture's pantheon to that of the invaders, as in the Greek [[Titanomachia]], and possibly also the [[Æsir–Vanir war]] in the [[Norse mythology|Norse mythos]]. Cultural exchange could lead to "the same" deity being revered in two places under different names, as seen with the Greeks, [[Etruscan religion|Etruscan]]s, and Romans, and also to the cultural transmission of elements of an extraneous religion, as with the [[ancient Egypt]]ian deity [[Osiris]], who was later worshipped in [[ancient Greece]].

Most ancient belief systems held that gods influenced human lives. However, the Greek philosopher [[Epicurus]] held that the gods were incorruptible but material, blissful beings who inhabited the empty spaces between worlds and did not trouble themselves with the affairs of mortals, but could be perceived by the mind, especially during sleep.

===Ancient Greece===
{{Main|Religion in ancient Greece}}
[[File:Greek - Procession of Twelve Gods and Goddesses - Walters 2340.jpg|thumb|Procession of the Twelve Olympians]]
The classical scheme in Ancient Greece of the [[Twelve Olympians]] (the Canonical Twelve of art and poetry) were:<ref name="EnAm1993">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Greek mythology |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia Americana]] |year=1993 |volume=13 |page=431}}</ref><ref name="EnPLB2007">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Dodekatheon |trans-title=Twelve Olympians |encyclopedia=[[Papyrus Larousse Britannica]] |year=2007 |language=el}}</ref> [[Zeus]], [[Hera]], [[Poseidon]], [[Athena]], [[Ares]], [[Demeter]], [[Apollo]], [[Artemis]], [[Hephaestus]], [[Aphrodite]], [[Hermes]], and [[Hestia]]. Though it is suggested that Hestia stepped down when [[Dionysus]] was invited to [[Mount Olympus]], this is a matter of controversy. Robert Graves' ''The Greek Myths'' cites two sources<ref>{{cite web|title=Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 5, section 3|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.5.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Pausanias, Description of Greece|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.31.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160}}</ref> that obviously do not suggest Hestia surrendered her seat, though he suggests she did. [[Hades]]<ref name="EnAm1919">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Encyclopedia Americana Vol. 13 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PWYMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA408 |volume=13 |year=1919 |editor=George Edward Rines |publisher=Americana Corp |pages=408–411}}</ref> was often excluded because he dwelt in the underworld. All of the gods had a power. There was, however, a great deal of fluidity as to whom was counted among their number in antiquity.<ref name="Stoll1852">{{cite book|author=Stoll, Heinrich Wilhelm (R.B. Paul trans.) |title=Handbook of the religion and mythology of the Greeks |publisher=Francis and John Rivington |year=1852 |page=8 |quote=The limitation [of the number of Olympians] to twelve seems to have been a comparatively modern idea}}</ref> Different cities often worshipped the same deities, sometimes with [[epithet]]s that distinguished them and specified their local nature.

[[Religion in Ancient Greece|Hellenic Polytheism]] extended beyond mainland Greece, to the islands and coasts of [[Ionia]] in [[Asia Minor]], to [[Magna Graecia]] (Sicily and southern Italy), and to scattered Greek colonies in the Western Mediterranean, such as [[Marseille|Massalia]] (Marseille). Greek religion tempered [[Etruscan mythology|Etruscan cult and belief]] to form much of the later [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman religion]]. During the Hellenistic Era, philosophical schools like [[Epicureanism]] developed distinct theologies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmO-s9qkrgA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/pmO-s9qkrgA |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|title=On the Epicurean Gods|date=2020|publisher=Society of Friends of Epicurus}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Hellenism is, in practice, primarily centered around polytheistic and animistic worship.